Thanks to the generosity of South Tyler Rotary members, we raised $900.00 during pass the hat for the Holiday of Hope program for the Children's Advocacy Center. Holiday of Hope allows the CAC to partner with generous supporters and share Christmas with clients and their families who do not have the resources to afford this celebration.

Members of South Tyler Rotary and the Bishop Gorman Interact Club went shopping on Thursday, November 15th to buy gifts for the 9 children we adopted through the program. With our help, children who have experienced the unthinkable will wake up Christmas morning to gifts and everyday necessities that will be cherished.

Join South Tyler Rotary at our first Women's Self Defense Class Thursday, October 25th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The class is at First Christian Church in the Family Life Center gym.

This is a free women's self defense class for all women! South Tyler Rotary is hosting this class for any woman wanting to learn safety techniques that could potentially keep her and her family safe in emergency situations. Tyler Police Department will teach and facilitate the class!

During the month of August we will hold a back to school supply drive benefiting Champions for Children of Smith County. We will collect items at our August 6th, 13th and 20th meetings. We will present the supplies to Champions at our August 20th meeting.

Grant applications for proceeds from the 2018 Spaghetti Supper are now being accepted. Non-profit organizations providing services in the areas of "Improvement of Health", "Alleviation of Poverty" or "Support for Education" are encouraged to apply but must be sponsored by a South Tyler Rotary member.

The South Tyler Rotary Club (STR) had several reasons to celebrate at its club meeting on Monday, June 18, 2018:

South Tyler Rotary Club honored outgoing President Nancy Crawford with the inaugural SPIRIT OF TYLER award. This annual award honors individuals who personify the Rotary motto "Service above Self" and serve the Tyler community. Crawford distinguished herself through continuous service as Executive Director of the Literacy Council of Tyler (LCOT) for over 25 years. LCOT began in 1990 serving 100 students in its adult literacy program. Under Crawford's leadership, LCOT has expanded its program offerings and now serves over 2000 students a year in 19 locations. LCOT has been honored as an "Elite" program by the State of Texas and has received numerous other awards. In Rotary, Crawford led STR to new highs during her tenure as President. Through her professional and public service accomplishments in serving the needs of the residents of Tyler, Crawford exemplifies the true SPIRIT OF TYLER. Therefore, South Tyler Rotary Club has bestowed its first annual SPIRIT OF TYLER award to Nancy Crawford.

In addition, the South Tyler Rotary Club installed Amanda Folmar as its 2018-2019 President. Notably, she is the youngest President in this club’s 52 year history. Charles "Pic" Pickens, STR’s very first President, was there to pass the gavel (“Pic” served in 1967-1968). In addition, there were 20 past South Tyler Presidents in attendance, including Curt Boldt, Tom Eckert, John Hart, Rob Jones, Terry Brannon, John King, Tom Seale, Jim Guay, Mark Roberts, Jesse Acosta, Bill Coates, Rich Davis, Dave Sherman, Tom DeWitt, John Hart, Steve Taylor, and Nancy Crawford. Performing the installation was Judy Guthrie, incoming Rotary 5830 District Governor (she was the first woman in the Carthage Rotary Club). Other officials from Rotary District 5830 included current District Governor Ted Huffhines of Marshall, District Governor Nominee Jack Welge of Longview, several Past Rotary District Governors: John Childs (Tyler Rotary); Shirley Griffin (Longview Rotary); Carroll Greenwaldt (Longview Rotary); Tom DeWitt (STR); and Lee Montgomery (STR). Also present to show support for the South Tyler Rotary Club were Todd Froebe, incoming President for the Rotary Club of Lindale, and George Roberts, incoming President for the Rotary Club of Tyler.

Thanks to the hard work of all of our members, another Reed Franklin Spaghetti Supper is in the books! We had almost 100% participation in either volunteering at the event and/or raising funds. Congratulations to President Elect Amanda Folmar on a great job organizing this year's event!

By the numbers:

$45,266 donated

821 meals served

165 volunteer hours

48 members volunteered

14 Interact members volunteered

Congratulations to Team Kavanaugh on pulling out a close, but hard fought victory on raising the most money. Pictured are team members Dave Sherman, Breck Watson, Diane Kavanaugh, Nancy Crawford and Stephanie McLean. Not pictured are Tifffany Hawkins and Alan Brown.

Breck Watson took home the Spaghetti Supper Trophy for individually raising the most money.

Carl Watson's name was selected from those selling over $1000.00 for the Paul Harris Fellowship.

Seventeen South Tyler Rotary members, one spouse and six future members met at Bergfeld Park on Monday, April 30th for our first ever Adopt A Park clean up. Teams dispersed through out the park with litter grabbers and trash bags.

Thanks to our newest members, Lori Scott, Stephanie McLean, Pat Flanagan and Brandie Henderson, for coming out. She's so new she hasn't even filled out the application, but thank you also to Hollie Paul for jumping right in to help. Marla Boren's husband, Curtis Boren, helped as well. Our young helpers for the day were the kids of Stephanie, Brandie, Hollie and Amanda Folmar. Other South Tyler Rotarians helping out include Art Mullan, Alan Brown, Tom DeWitt, Lee Montgomery, Kimberly Ashley, Carol Conover, Jeff Johnston, Roddey Hogan, Nancy Crawford and Diane Kavanaugh

South Tyler Rotary hosts the Reed Franklin Annual Spaghetti Supper on Thursday, April 26th. Since 1992 this annual fundraiser helps South Tyler Rotary supports local non-profit organizations and causes. Each year, 50 percent of the funds raised each year are immediately applied to programs and services in the local area. The remaining 50 percent are held in the South Tyler Rotary's Foundation for use in future endeavors.

Sponsors and attendees enjoy a huge helping of homemade spaghetti, tossed salad, garlic bread, dessert, and a non-alcoholic beverage - dine in or carry-out. Individual tickets are $10.00 each and sponsorships are available starting at $100.00.

Reed Franklin was a former club president, a founder of the spaghetti supper and a great champion of civic causes in the community. Franklin died in April 2015.

South Tyler Rotary, Tyler Sunrise and Tyler Rotary teamed up with the City of Tyler for this year's Arbor Day Events. Rotary members from all three clubs participated at the Arbor Day and tree planting on January 27th at UT Tyler where over 100 trees were planted on the campus. On February 11th Rotarians helped give away 4500 seedlings to Tyler and Smith County Residents. And, the city invites Rotary members to help at an additional tree planting day on February 24th at the Tyler Pounds Regional Airport.

Each club also plans their own tree planting project to meet the tree planting challenge issued by Rotary International President Ian Risely. He challenged every Rotary club to make a difference by planting a tree for each of its members between the start of the Rotary year on 1 July and Earth Day on 22 April 2018. Trees remove carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the air, which slows global warming.

STR member Lynn Holliman is spearheading planting efforts for our club. Watch for more details at upcoming meetings

On Thursday, December 7th, the South Tyler Rotary, Sunrise Rotary and the Rotary Club of Tyler held its annual joint Bike Build at Pollard United Methodist Church. The three clubs have collaborated for several years to assemble bikes for local children.

Seaborn Nesbett, a member of the Sunrise Rotary and Pollard United Methodist coordinates the event for the three Rotary clubs. This year, over 75 bikes were assembled by Rotarians in less than an hour. A good portion of the bikes were sponsored by individual Rotarians.

The popular event is a family affair, as many Rotarians bring their families to help assemble the bikes. From South Tyler, we had sixteen members and thirteen family members or guests participate in the build. We also had nine Interact Club members participate.

The Salvation Army will give anywhere between 600 to 700 bicycles to Angel Tree children this Christmas.

Congratulations to Amanda Folmar and the parade planning committee for another successful parade. City of Tyler officials estimate this was the highest number of people attending the parade. We had over 120 entries, up significantly from our first year. We had over 20 members volunteering at the parade. Thank you to all who served on the committee and volunteered at the event.

South Tyler Rotary members who served on the planning committee include: Amanda Folmar, John Hart, Neal Franklin, Carol Conover, Bob Westbrook, Chris Reynolds, Beth Blaisdel, Art Mullan, Dalton Dickerson, and Roddy Hogan. Please tell each of them thank you the next time you see them.

Paul Harris Fellow, Donald Ross Patterson, 32 year member of South Tyler Rotary passed Oct 16, 2017 ending a long battle with Parkinson's Disease and Multiple Systems Atrophy. Don was born in Overton, TX in 1939, did his undergraduate at Texas Tech and graduated from UT Law School and SMU Law School. He served in the Navy's JAG Corp and practiced law in Tyler almost 50 years specializing in immigration law. The highlight of his legal career was having a case selected by and then arguing in front of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Don served as South Tyler Rotary President in 1998-1999. In 2014 he made his wife Peggy a Paul Harris Fellow. Every year he brought his grandson to the Rotary Bike Build to benefit less fortunate children in our community. In the past three years his weekly attendance at church and Rotary were his only non medical outings. His dedication, humor and generosity will be missed. Members of the South Tyler Rotary are making contributions to The Rotary Foundation in his memory.

Checks made out to The Rotary Foundation or cash contributions will be collected at the 10/23/17 meeting to facilitate this project. If you will not be able to attend, send your gift to Tom DeWitt at 1467 Old Creek Dr., Tyler, 75703.

Grant applications for proceeds from the 2017 Spaghetti Supper are now being accepted. Non-profit organizations providing services in the areas of "Improvement of Health", "Alleviation of Poverty" or "Support for Education" are encouraged to apply. Maximum request is $1000.00. Applications are due to Alan Brown by October 23rd.

Through a planned gift, donors can provide ongoing support to Rotary programs. Donors can choose structured gifts to be made after their lifetimes, and take advantage of financial and tax benefits, which vary by country.

Our own Dan Carpenter was featured in the Tyler Morning Telegraph on May 16th, 2017. Dan received the Rotary International "Service Above Self" award. The honor recognizes Rotarians who demonstrate Rotary’s motto, “Service Above Self,” by volunteering their time and talents to help others. The award is internationally competitive and is granted to no more than 150 Rotarians worldwide each year.

Our July 10th meeting included the installation of 2017/2018 officers, a thank you gift presentation to Immediate Past President Tony Raymond and recognition of our South Tyler Rotarian of the Year, Amanda Folmar.

Every year our club has the opportunity to earn what is a called a Presidential Citation. This means that as a club we were able to complete a list of goals and objectives issued by the Rotary International President. I feel that the only way we can hit those goals is for the club to be fully aware and engaged in helping us do so.

Here is a link to read more about the program and see what the goals are.

RYLA is about to happen. It is a life changing event for a lot of students from all around our district.

WHAT IS RYLA?

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is an international program that was created by Rotary International to encourage strong leadership in youth. Young people chosen for their leadership potential attend an all-expenses-paid camp to develop and enhance leadership skills through activities conducted in an atmosphere of trust and respect. Throughout the camp we focus on these eight leadership characteristics: